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The annual Craig Gowans Memorial football match will take place this Sunday between Hutchison Vale FC and a Celtic/Rangers Select, kick off 2:00pm.

The Memorial Fund was set up in the memory Craig, the young Falkirk footballer who was died on 8 July 2005, when a net catcher he was instructed to move during a training session struck an overhead cable. The seventeen year old was only two weeks into his professional contract with the Bairns when the tragedy occurred.

As well as being a talented footballer, Craig was a straight A pupil and talented artist at Stewart’s Melville College, where he won the School’s Athletic Championship.  He also had an unconditional offer to study Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, but chose a career in football.

This is the fifth such game, with all money raised going to the fund in Craig’s name, which to date has raised thousands of pounds for good causes.

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Former Celtic stars, Darren Jackson, Simon Donnelley, David Elliot, Jackie McNamara, John Hughes and Mark Burchill will team up with former rivals from Rangers, Ronnie Yule, Scott Nisbet, Bob Malcolm, Charlie Miller, Dougie Bell, and John MacDonald. Former Hibs defender Steven Tweed and midfielder David Farrell will make up the numbers.

Gordon Parks Daily Record Sports Journalist, Mark Martin Forth One Presenter, Ian Maxwell General Manager Partick Thistle, David Bailey Forth One Presenter, will also make an appearance, along with Craig’s brothers Dean and Darren who will play for Craig’s old team Hutchison Vale.

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Last year’s game, which involved a Hibs / Hearts select, along with runners in the Edinburgh marathon raised £6317.77 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

Last November, The Edinburgh Reporter highlighted the generosity of the charity when members of Craig’s family handed over the keys to a specially adapted minibus to be used by the children of Calareidh, a community-based house situated in Bingham which provides long term care and respite breaks to children and young people with complex disabilities across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Craig’s father John told The Edinburgh Reporter: “The day starts with a kids tournament about 10-10.30am which finishes about 1pm. The Stewarts Melville Pipe Band will then make an appearance, and Chaplin’s Disco Bus will also be there. This is the fifth year and we are hoping for a big turn-out. We are always a bit apprehensive in advance but hopefully the weather will be fine. All money raised will go to the Friends of the Sick Kids Foundation and last year we helped buy a minibus for Calareidh. It keeps Craig’s name to the fore, and he is always at the front of our thoughts.”

Anyone wishing to donate can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/The-Craig-Gowans-Memorial-Fund or http://www.edinburghsickkids.org/press-and-news/gallery/craig-gowans-memorial.html

 

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.